Outsiders

In Robbins', "Folk Sculpture without Folk" and Ames', "Outside Outsider Art" discusses the issues of outsider art and how society defines the term. Personally, when thinking of what I define as outsider art, I can not really think of one particular art form that sticks out to me as fitting into the particular category. I see all art as being something individual. The artist creates their works of art that they think are visually appealing or hold a certain significance. I don't think that any artist says to themselves "I really want my art to be considered outsider art. How do I do that?"

Robbins discusses in his essay folk art and how it serves as a marker for culture in our society. He shows how people perceive and think about folk art after the modern art movement and the other various genres of art that have become common in society. He focuses on how traditions and art are connected in many different ways. I think that it is interesting how the view of folk art could be looked at very different because of the way art has changed through out history. What is popular and certain trends don't last for long causing new things to make their way into culture.

Ames talks about how defining something as outsider art is damaging the experience of everything that art has to offer. Defining something as outsider art makes that artist be almost stereotyped into a certain category of art. I think that it is almost ironic because the people that are categorizing the artist and their work into the outsider feild are people that are actually outside of the experience of creating the art.

I reviewed the websites that you suggested us to visit as well. I think that Jonathan Leman's drawings are very interesting. The way that he perceives human faces and their features is interesting. They all have a distorted appearance that catches that viewers attention. I think his use of messy shading and quick lines makes the drawings something fun to look at.

Questions:
1. What and who exactly defines what outsider art is?

2. Do different cultures define outsider art differently? What does someone in Asia consider outsider art compared to someone in the United States?